Saturday, December 11, 2004

Sifting Fallujah

Taking Fallujah was only part of destroying Fallujah as a safe haven for the enemy.

Now we have to pacify it and make it secure enough for the Iraqi security forces to take over from us. I wrote in the past that we have to sift the population of the city for terrorists and tightly control them. In part I assumed the residents would remain in the city as we captured it from the Baathists and their jihadi friends. This assumption was wrong. The population fled and now this makes our task easier. Our sifting begins right at the edge of the city before the residents return. Man did I underestimate how much we could sift:

When Fallujans begin trickling back to their devastated city, they will be routed through sandbagged checkpoints where U.S. and Iraqi troops will take their fingerprints, issue them ID badges and scan their irises — part of an elaborate plan to keep insurgents out of the former militant stronghold.

Iris scans? Dang. Sift them and keep the thugs out. Or rather, catch them.